Powers of Persuasion
by thefanfictionauthor
Summary: Set after Season 5 and both Daniel and Betty are in London. Daniel has agreed to a plan which allows him to be infinitely closer to Betty but will he use this wisely or will he use his infamous powers of persuasion to tease Betty into getting what they both secretly want? DETTY - WARNING contains adult themes and strong language
1. Chapter 1

Would mean a lot to me if you could review or favourite so I know that I'm writing what you guys want to read and for me to know how many are reading! Thank you and happy reading!

Olivia :) xxx

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Part One.

"Okay so how is this actually going to work? We have no story about why we're together and nothing to fall back on if he starts asking us questions. Plus you know that I'm a terrible liar, so it'll be you telling him everything" Betty crossed one leg over the other as she shifted on the bar stool that she was sat on. She had been toying with the straw that was placed in her drink, absentmindedly pushing the cubes of ice around the glass while keeping her gaze planted on the man that stood next to her.

"We don't have to make up a story, if he asks we just tell him that we've known each other for five years, you moved here and I came running after you. It's easy, we just tell the truth about us working together then we add a few pet names and kisses into the mix and we're fine. He's not going to suspect anything, we're close enough to pull this off. Don't worry." Daniel leant against the bar and picked up his tumbler filled with scotch and tilted it so that the ochre liquid fell against the cubes of ice, still looking at Betty as she pushed her hair behind her ear. He sipped on the sharp alcohol in an attempt to try and distract himself from her bronzed legs, which seemed to fall so effortlessly from her dress. The collar of his shirt tightened ever so slightly as he once again noticed her cleavage which her dress drastically enhanced. After seeing Betty hide away her curves for so long, her new found self esteem made Daniel's head spin. It was as if she was the same woman on the inside but on the outside? Jesus Christ her body and the way she used it was enough to make Daniel pathetically weak. The next four days were going to be excruciatingly long if Betty kept on making Daniel feel like he did now. The rate at which Betty was going was driving him to the edge of insanity and the thought of him not being able to touch her in the way that he wanted to was like adding salt to an already painful wound.

"How are you so confident that this is going to work?" she shook her head at Daniel's confidence that this plan was going to run like clockwork. In her mind, this would either be a massive success or an even bigger failure.

"It's not as if we're robbing a bank or running a terrorist organisation, B. Although I _could_ give you a rather suggestive Bond girl name…"

"You're walking on _very _thin ice right now, Mr Meade" she widened her eyes as Daniel smirked and laughed at her.

"Seriously though, I bet you all of the money in my bank account that it'll work. I'm telling you, B. It'll be fine…"

"Mmm well let's hope so. And seriously Daniel? Kissing? If I know you as well as I think I do, you'll have us sleeping together too…"

"Well I wouldn't say no…" he smirked as he took a sip of his scotch only to feel Betty hitting his arm.

"Seriously B, violence is not the way to get me into bed" he joked but Betty just shook her head and glared at him; her eyes smouldering against Daniel's pools of blue.

"God if I'm that repulsive, just say B. You don't _have _to kiss me" Daniel rolled his eyes as he spoke, watching as Betty giggled at his melodramatic expressions.

"I didn't say that I didn't want to…" she stared warily at her glass which sat on the countertop.

"Oh so you do? Wow, I didn't see _that_ coming" he shifted slightly, moving only a few centimetres closer to Betty.

"Okay, I didn't say that I didn't want to but I didn't technically say I did either. You just decided that I do" she glared at him as she spoke, trying to resist the smile threatening to surface that was inevitable whenever he smirked at her like that.

"Whatever, B. If there ever comes a time, I'll be sure to say 'I told you so', don't worry about that" he smiled and looked down at his scotch again before glancing up to see Betty looking at him disapprovingly.

"There is one more thing though…" Daniel looked up and Betty could tell by the glint in his eyes and the smirk on his face that he was up to no good.

"If I'm helping you out with this little plan, what do I get in return?"

"What makes you think that you're getting rewarded?" she narrowed her eyes as she took another sip of her drink, licking her lips as she glared uncertainly at Daniel.

"Well other than the fact than the hotel having a rather amazing looking pool, nothing really made me think that I was getting rewarded. I kind of just presumed that such a large favour would be compensated"

"Okay…but what does a pool have to do with getting rewarded?"

"If I pretend to be your boyfriend for four whole days, all I ask is that seeing as though we've got a whole afternoon to kill tomorrow, you come swimming with me in the hotel and I get to see how hot you look in a bikini"

"That's what you want? You want _me_ to wear a bikini in return for you going along with the plan that _you _made up?"

"Mhmm and besides you practically get to see _me_ naked too. You'd be getting more out of this trip that I would" he smirked at her again and raised his eyebrows as Betty narrowed her eyes and glared at him once more. She shook her head and scoffed quietly in disbelief at how forthright Daniel was when he wanted something. But in the blink of an eye she had already decided that if he wanted to see her in a bikini, then he would. She was going to give him what he wanted, but only at a price.

"Dream on big boy, I'm going home" she slid off the bar stool and slung her bag over her shoulder before starting to make her way towards the door of the bar. Daniel, however, placed his hand on her waist; stopping her from going any further. His face was only slightly higher than hers and his body didn't move when he whispered in her ear so huskily and gruffly that tiny waves of electricity ran down her spine.

"Sweet dreams, then. Let's hope that you don't dream anything too dirty about me tonight" she stepped backwards to see his usually light sapphire eyes had turned dark with exhilaration and he tightened his grip on her body momentarily. The way every nerve in her body seemed to burn with thrill almost scared her. The effect that Daniel had on her was new and undiscovered and she hated to admit that it was a feeling that she sinisterly and secretly loved.

Daniel slowly and cautiously dropped his hand from its firm position on her waist. He dragged his hand across the silk of her dress and grazed it down her thigh, making her shudder uncontrollably. It was then that she stepped forward, keeping her gaze on Daniel's opaque expression as she moved away from his body.

She made her way towards the door, turning back to see Daniel watching her as she left. He noticed her watching him as she bit her bottom lip and smiled seductively into his dark stare. She was deliberately making her ass sway more when she walked and she made a point of looking back at Daniel as she left the bar and hailed a cab.

He watched her as she got into the cab that she had hailed down but he waited a while before he left the Soho bar himself. If she only knew how crazy she made him and how sexy she was. If she had stayed any longer, if she had seduced him any more, that dress would no longer be wrapped around her body. Rather it would be lying on the floor of his hotel suite along with her underwear. He was shameless in admitting that Miss Suarez was not only the woman that he loved but the woman that he both wanted and needed.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, just wanted to say that for the next few chapters I really need you to look at my polyvore account to look at Betty's outfits and to understand why Daniel reacts the way that he does. So if you log on to olivia - mackie . polyvore .com without the spaces the outfit marked with an 'x' in the second piece of dialogue is labelled 06. thanks again Olivia xxx

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Part Two.

With the prospects of a five-hour long drive weighted on his shoulders coupled with the unbelievably hard task of resisting _her _for the next four days; Daniel Meade continued climbing the staircase which lead to Betty's apartment. It was the morning after their rendezvous in a bar nestled in Soho and Daniel had realised, after waking up to a pounding headache, that the numerous measures of scotch that he consumed had contributed considerably to the night's events. With the remnants of Betty's teasing words hovering at the back of his mind he was trying to figure out whether it was the alcohol which had fuelled her provocative and tormenting remarks or whether it was something new which had sparked between them. And for some weirdly new and intriguing reason, Daniel felt comfortable and confident enough to carry on teasing her. It was as if he was learning to ride a bike again. As soon as Daniel caught his balance and felt confident in doing something so new and alien, he was desperate to try again just to remember what it felt like. He yearned to see how her eyes darkened when he said something that thrilled her but he'd already begun to forget how it felt when he slid his hand down her thigh so delicately that she almost didn't feel it. All of these thoughts seemed to escalate and heighten when he reached the door of her apartment. He inhaled deeply, shaking any distracting thoughts from his head, and knocked softly on her door. He barely had time to blink before it flew open and he was stood watching as Betty ran in and out of her bathroom and bedroom carrying all sorts of possessions.

"Sorry, I'll be two seconds. I promise" she called from somewhere inside her bedroom as she closed her wardrobe doors and shut off her laptop.

"It's ok, do you want some help?" he asked as she grabbed a toiletry bag from the doorway of her bathroom. She was wearing a loose fitting t-shirt with a skirt which only just peeked out from underneath the white material of the shirt. **x **Once again he noticed her bronzed and toned legs which the silk skirt seemed to flow around so gracefully. _God she looks good_, Daniel thought as his heart began to beat harder against his chest. Seeing her looking so effortlessly beautiful only made him love her more.

"No it's okay, I'm done now" she replied as she returned to the kitchen.

He smiled, transfixed, as he leant against the kitchen counter and watched as she knelt down in front of an overnight bag and placed the toiletry bag inside of it before zipping it up.

He loved to just watch her, see how her hair always fell in front of her face and how she'd carefully placed it back behind her ears. He could spend all day just observing the quirky little habits that adorned her personality, like the way that she would always ask what he was thinking or how she would catch him watching her but wouldn't tell him to stop.

She swiftly glanced to Daniel and then back to her make-up bag which sat next to a pair of ballet flats on the floor. She knew that he was watching her and tried desperately hard not to blush under his gaze. She picked up her make-up bag and made her way into her bedroom, picking up her bag and sliding in her phone and purse along with the nearly bursting make-up bag. She made sure that she had everything she needed before turning off the bathroom light, locking her window and wandering out to meet Daniel in the kitchen. She slipped on the ballet pumps and tied them before meeting his gaze.

"Hi" he said looking at her as she finally calmed down and caught her breath

"Hi" she said smiling at him and tilting her head as she noticed him looking at her in _that _way. The way that makes her stomach tighten and head spin.

"Sorry but why have you been hiding those for so long?" he gestured towards her legs with his hand, his eyes wide both in confusion and shock. For so long Betty had covered up her body and it was only now that she had started to show more and more of it.

She shrugged in response to his question, smiling in embarrassment as she looked to the floor.

"I'm serious B. They're hot…like really, really hot" she giggled and blushed uncontrollably, feeling completely giddy as Daniel looked at her body.

"You're not too bad yourself" she looked directly into his sapphire eyes as a lift of confidence coursed through her veins.

Daniel smirked at her and pushed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Betty couldn't help but take in Daniel's changed appearance. The blue, pinstriped shirt he wore tightened slightly across his arms and chest and the sleeves had been rolled up to the elbow. His jeans were slimmer fitting than he normally wore them and she had immediately loved the grey suede brogues he was wearing too. He was driving Betty crazy and this was partly due to the fact that his muscles had grown drastically since she had last seen him. He had generally become a lot more muscular, his chest was firmer, his shoulders were broader, his arms were stronger and his stomach tighter. She loved how resilient and solid the muscles in his back were too but had only noticed when he'd answered the door topless before their night at the bar. She was discovering on a daily basis things that made her head spin and stomach burn with nerves. There was something so powerful about Daniel and yet his personality was the complete opposite. She had known all along that Daniel was an extremely good looking and handsome man but it was only after they had distanced themselves from each other that she had really noticed his well-built exterior. But he wasn't skinny or slight and that's what Betty loved about him. Most of the men that she had met had amazing bodies but they were all too pretty and not nearly as rugged enough. Fair enough Daniel had grown more muscular but he wasn't a small man. He was tall and strong and gave her the protection and security that she needed. In truth, he was the only man that she'd ever known who had made her feel completely and utterly safe. Both Matt and Henry hadn't made her feel particularly safe and they were both, although she hated to sound so mean, but they were both so scrawny and childlike. Daniel, on the other hand, as much of an innuendo as this sounds, is a man. Not just because of his appearance and strength but also because of how he copes with things in his life and how protective he is of Betty. His body and strength are two of many things that draw Betty into Daniel. The feeling of his taught arms which seem to belittle her body make her feel so calm and shielded; like nothing could touch her. She had pined for longer than she could remember, despite all of the teasing and funny remarks shared between them, to have Daniel's hands on her body. Just to feel his skin searching for hers. She wanted him to find every millimetre of her skin with his strong and muscular hands, taking in her body like a drug. She wanted to know what his lips felt like on her skin, she wanted to know what it felt like to just be with Daniel. For there to be nothing but air between their bodies and to feel closer to him than ever.

But as quickly as her daydreaming had taken over her mind, Daniel had drawn her back to reality.

"You ready to go?" he asked as he pushed himself away from the counter he had been leaning on and stepped further towards Betty who was picking up her overnight bag from the floor.

"Mhmm" Daniel stepped forward, however, and stood behind her as she was about to put the overnight bag over her shoulder. He put his hand on hers and took the bag from it, throwing it over his own.

"Oh no you don't. That's way too heavy for you to carry" she turned to face him and waited to meet his gaze as he pulled the car keys out from his jeans pocket. He looked up to see Betty smiling gently at him as she watched him.

"What?" he smirked and Betty giggled slightly at his confused expression.

"Nothing…" she shook her head as she smiled at how much of a gentleman Daniel was. Despite his history with women, he knew how to treat them right and he always did.

She was about to pick up her bag, which had once stood next to her overnight bag in the doorway of her bedroom but instead her arm was met by the gentle grip of Daniel's hand.

"No, c'mon B I really wanna know" she turned around to face Daniel again and played with her fingernails in an attempt to avoid looking into Daniel's cobalt eyes in fear that she might fall to his feet.

"I don't know…you're just…you're just such a gentleman you know that?" she eventually plucked some courage up and managed to look into Daniel's eyes as she tried to make him understand that she wasn't joking. He didn't say anything. He just placed his hand on the small of her back and planted a sole, lingering kiss on her temple.

"Only for you, gorgeous" he winked at her as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Do you realise how cheesy you sound?" she asked as she grabbed the suit carrier with her dress inside of it from where it hung on the kitchen door.

"Oh come on, you can't deny that you love it" they had made their way over to the front door. Betty had picked up her bag and taken the keys out of the door before closing it behind her and Daniel.

"I really don't…" she laughed and shook her head at how persistent Daniel was right now. She pushed the key in the lock and began to turn it counter clockwise when she felt Daniel's chest pressed firm against her back. He had moved his lips only millimetres away from her ear as he continued the teasing which had been started the night before.

"Yeah you do. Especially when I do things like this…" he whispered in her ear as he moved his hands round to the front of her body to just below the hem of her skirt and excruciatingly slowly touched Betty's thighs with his fingertips. When his fingertips were definitely but barely touching her skin he started to drag them upwards. His hands weren't underneath her skirt but the way he was touching her made goose bumps rise to the surface of her skin. The all too familiar burning sensation quickly began to flame in the depths of her abdomen and she shuddered like she did the night before when he touched her in a very similar way. But with a strike of confidence Betty had pushed her ass into the space between Daniel's crotch and stomach and made him move backwards. She locked the door and started to walk down the corridor looking back and biting her lips as she saw Daniel still waiting, smirking, at the door of her apartment.

"This is gunna be a long day…" he mumbled under his breath before exhaling deeply as he watched her ass sway with the silk of her skirt and listen as her shoes clicked against the tiles of the corridor.


	3. Chapter 3

Part Three

After finally catching up with her, Daniel walked in heated silence next to Betty as they headed for the private car park underneath her apartment building. As they walked through the stuffy, warm atmosphere of the car park their bodies were in touching distance of each other. Without looking at him, Betty hooked two fingers onto Daniel's making him glance down at their newly intertwined hands. But Betty's face didn't move from her gaze on the cars that were parked ahead of them. After recognising her gesture, he smoothed his thumb over her fingers to let her know that he had felt her tiny movement. As quickly as Betty had touched Daniel's hand, the moment seemed to be over as he drew a set of car keys out of his jeans pocket and pressed the 'open' button. Betty watched as the lights of a white Range Rover sport flashed orange and Daniel reached over and opened the trunk in one swift movement.

"Really Daniel? Could you have hired a bigger car?" she dropped her bag from her shoulder as Daniel took the suit carrier out of her arms and laid it next to the carrier filled with his tux and the rest of his suits.

"They upgraded me, it's something to do with being a gold member…And besides, I heard on the grapevine that you like big objects" he smirked at her again but she just glared at him, threw her bag over her shoulder and made her way over to the passenger door.

"Not that you'll ever know…" she mumbled so that Daniel could hear that she had said something but quiet enough so he couldn't understand exactly what she had said.

"What?" he asked as she opened the door to the car.

"Nothing!" she smirked back at him as he slammed the trunk shut and wandered round to the drivers door, raising her eyebrows at him as if to say 'touché'

"You don't mind me driving do you? Only I heard that you like handling large objects too…" he tried not to laugh as he slid into the drivers seat and pushed the keys into the ignition. He turned the key and the car seemed to roar into life as he pulled on his seat belt, but Betty just sat and rolled her eyes at Daniel.

"You have got such a dirty mind, do you know that?" she said her eyes seething against Daniel's.

"Ooh, feisty! I like it, it's kinky" he joked, laughing as Betty scoffed at Daniel whilst trying not to laugh and give in to him.

"Moving on…I saw Adam again yesterday in the Marks and Spencer ad proposal meeting for the newspapers"

"Oh god what's he done now? You know if he says anything to you at the conference I'm not promising that I'm going to stand by and let him mess you about. It's like its part of my reflexes to stop guys like that from screwing you over"

"I know, you're protective side is about the only part of you that I don't hate right now."

"Oh really? Well you know, I can always pretend to be your insane ex-husband instead of your loving boyfriend. You seem to be taking this awfully big favour of mine for granted" he teased and she giggled and shook her head at Daniel.

"Aw you know I love you really. And for the record, if you're thinking about showing Adam the error of his ways, you'll have to get in line behind me. Ugh he makes my skin crawl, it's like he knows what I'm thinking _all_ the time and not in the smart way that you do. He's just a _really_ disgusting, creepy man." She shivered as she thought about Adam's icy eyes that bore into hers. She hated the way that he always touched her whenever he got the chance. He'd put his arm around her and stroke her arm in a way which looks friendly but feels like she's being violated. Adam Silk is the marketing director of The Telegraph newspaper and for the last four months Mr Silk has used his powers within the company to make Betty feel as small and as vulnerable as physically possible. His overly erogenous nature and powerful personality leave Betty feeling like she is a little girl; afraid to do something wrong in fear of the consequences that she would face. Adam had made his intentions towards Betty extremely clear and she tried tirelessly to avoid bumping into him in the building. But nobody else noticed what he was doing and just the thought of someone touching Betty in that way, made Daniel angrier than he'd ever been. His instincts told him that he should do everything in his power to stop this Adam guy from making Betty feel this way. So when she told Daniel about the conference which Adam would be attending as well as her, his immediate reaction was that he had to go with her. He had to help Betty make Adam see that she had someone in her life who wasn't prepared to let him handle her like that.

Now, Daniel watched as Betty seemed to shrink in her seat. He hated seeing her being so affected by this man. A man who thought that he could make Betty do things that she didn't and wouldn't do. Her colourful personality seemed to diminish whenever Adam came up in conversation. But Betty needed to talk about Mr Silk with Daniel to ensure her that he would protect her in a way that she couldn't on her own.

"As long as I've got blood in my veins and air in my lungs, that man won't touch you again, alright?" he looked into Betty's eyes, seeing something that he hadn't seen in a _very _long time. Fear.

"And anyway, he's got a girlfriend right?" he asked as they began to drive out of the dark surroundings of the car park and onto the street above.

"Yeah, ironically she works in fashion" Betty crossed one leg over the other and pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Really?" he furrowed his brow as he looked over to Betty

"Yeah apparently she's the creative director of Vogue in the UK"

"Is she going with him to the conference?"

"I doubt it. She hasn't been at any of his corporate events so I don't think she'll take four days off to do nothing in the middle of nowhere. Speaking of the middle of nowhere. Do you even know how to get to this place?"

"I'm glad you have so much faith in me Betty"

"I do have faith in you…just not when it comes to driving"

"I don't think that I've ever driven you anywhere before, so you can't really judge" he poked his finger into her ribs, making her squirm and giggle.

"But just to be sure, it's all in there" he pointed to the screen above the air conditioning controls which showed a sat-nav system.

"I was joking Daniel…"

"I know, sweetie" he shook his head as he laughed and took his hand off the gear stick; gently grazing Betty's uncovered thigh. But she jumped and looked startled as Daniel began to apologise

"Sorry…I, uh, I didn't mean to make you jump" he tried to focus on the road rather than how surprised Betty looked.

"It's ok, it's…um…it's nice" she looked at Daniel and noticed that he was looking at her in that way again. He wasn't smiling but his eyes glinted in a way which meant he didn't have to. He was about to move his hand from her skin but she moved slightly so she was closer to Daniel and placed his hand back on her leg, revelling in the feeling of his touch. And as her skin began to prick with goosebumps, the ring of her cell phone drew her attention away from Daniel's thumb tracing the curve of her thigh.

"Hi Justin" she recognised the caller ID and answered

"Oh my god, you will_ not_ believe what Grandpa has done"

"What's he done now?" Betty asked fearing that her father had done something as stupid as installing that god awful chandelier from his restaurant.

"He's growing a beard. And I'm not talking like Daniel's rugged five o'clock shadow, this is like a Santa Claus, horrible, grey, non sophisticated totally gross beard"

"Why are you so bothered by a beard? You said yourself that Daniel's got one, it's not a crime Justin"

"It is a crime when you're not thirty eight and the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine who is like unbelievably good looking"

"Daniel's not thirty eight, he's thirty six and anyway let Papi do what he wants. If he's happy, I'm happy and so should you be"

"Why are you so calm about this AB"

"Because to be honest Papi's beard isn't really that big of a deal. If it really irritates you that much just shave it off when he's sleeping. End the crime against fashion or whatever you want to call it"

"I might call Marc. He's got some experience with getting rid of beards after he shaved Daniel's off"

"Yeah but that wasn't very successful because, one Daniel's still got his beard and he suits it and two Daniel really didn't care what Marc thought. He's laughing at you now you know" Daniel's stomach tightened as Betty began drawing patterns on the back of his hand which rested on her leg

"What? You mean Daniel's there? With you?" Justin almost yelled down the phone

"Well yeah he's not here telepathically Justin" Daniel laughed as he caught Betty's eye and she rolled her eyes at how ditsy Justin was sometimes

"Oh my god why didn't you tell me? This is _huge _AB. Oh my god let me speak to him"

"No way Justin"

"Please AB?" he sounded like a begging dog on the other end of the receiver

"Oh my god fine. I'll put you on speaker phone, hang on" she gave in and put the phone on speaker holding it up between her and Daniel

"Am I on yet?" Justin's voice rang out inside the atmosphere of the car

"Yeah" Betty replied as she turned over Daniel's hand and began tracing different patterns on his palm, making electricity glide down his spine

"Okay so now that you went all the way to London to see my aunt, does this mean that I can call you Uncle Daniel now?"

"Um if you have to, that makes me sound really old though Justin" Daniel laughed and Betty just cringed at the conversation. Justin was talking as if her and Daniel were engaged or married or something and it made her stomach tighten with nerves

"Ok I'll stick with calling you Daniel then, did you get your dress sorted out for this conference thingy AB?"

"Yeah Daniel helped me pick it out" he looked and smiled softly at Betty as she just looked contently into his eyes, trying not to laugh at the completely weird situation they were in. The four day conference was an emergency strategy because of the news coverage surrounding the phone hacking scandal within UK newspapers. The Telegraph along with it's sister publications had been called to a hotel away from the Capital by the publication's owners to discuss the proposals that the Leveson inquiry and the government were drawing up. Although this was an emergency meeting, the Telegraph had chosen to hold their annual dinner which was used to discuss the trials and tribulations of the publication throughout the year. In other words it was used to congratulate the successes of the magazine and to skim over the failures and accusations of phone hacking.

"You totally have to send me a picture, or put one on your blog. I wanna know if you look hot AB"

"Don't worry Justin, she does" Betty giggled in embarrassment as Daniel winked at her, making her body tingle with exhilaration.

"I'm taking your word for it Daniel… what am I saying? If you helped her pick it of course she looks hot"

"Wow, I'm glad you think so highly of my fashion sense" Daniel chuckled slightly as Betty rolled her eyes at Justin's dissatisfaction with her taste in fashion.

"I've gotta go AB, Austin just got here"

"Okay I love you, I'll call you later"

"I love you too AB, don't get up to too much naughty business with Daniel"

"I can't promise anything" Daniel blurted out before computing what he had just said, somewhat regretting it afterwards as Betty widened her eyes at him and shook her head; trying to resist laughing at his comment.

"You guys have totally got it going on for each other, you seriously need to hur"

"Okay bye Justin!" Betty cut him off before he made it even more awkward between her and Daniel.

"I swear to god that boy has got no filter" she rubbed her eyes in disbelief, trying not to cringe at what her nephew had just confessed.

Daniel just laughed again as Betty locked her phone and dropped it in her bag. He took her hand away from her thigh to change gear and was about to place it on the steering wheel when she put it back on her leg. They sat in a somewhat comfortable silence for a few minutes and Daniel would glance to look at Betty catching her eye and making her smile softly.

"Can I ask you something?" Daniel asked as he looked to his side, seeing Betty looking away from the window and into his eyes.

"Of course, you can ask me anything, you know that"

"Does my, uh…does my age bother you?"

"No…why would it?"

"I'm almost ten years older than you, B. With us being so close, do you not find it a bit strange?"

"It doesn't bother me in the slightest. Well does it bother you that I'm younger than you?"

"Well…uh…no I guess not"

"See? Age isn't everything you know" Daniel looked at Betty as she stared out the window, watching the cars driving past as they drove along the M25 and out of London. After a few minutes of Daniel changing gear and changing lanes on the motorway Betty piped up again, still confused as to why he thought that his age would change things.

"You really think your age would make me feel any different?"

"I don't know…I guess I was just making sure. Sometimes it does bother girls that I'm older than them"

"You're not exactly elderly Daniel, and anyway what brought this up?"

"Just when you said to Justin that I'm thirty-six not thirty-eight, it kinda made me feel, well… old" he squinted in disgust at the realisation that he was nearly forty years of age. He was worried that his age would hold Betty back, that he was stopping her from being young.

"Sorry I didn't mean for it to sound like that, I just"

"No, no it wasn't anything that you said. I just…I guess I never really thought about us not being the same age. It kind of feels like we are"

"It doesn't change anything. It's not like you're fifty and I'm a twenty-one year old gold digger using you for your money"

"You're too clever to be a gold digger, plus you don't have a bad bone in your body so that's impossible"

"If that's a compliment then thanks, I think everybody at MODE kind of forgot that I'm not completely thick"

"I didn't forget, you're the cleverest person I know. You make me look like I've never been to school. That Harvard degree was such a waste, someone like you could've actually used that and got something out of it. All I got was"

"Sex?" she smirked as he raised his eyebrows and smiled at how well she knew him

"Yeah, and place on the football team"

"Not to mention being New York's most eligible bachelor" she giggled as he winced at the status he had been awarded due to his renowned one night stands and flings.

"That's not really something to be proud of though is it?" he scrunched his nose as he remembered how different a person he was back then.

"Well no but not everybody can say that they're the editor-in-chief of a magazine, Daniel"

"You're forgetting that I didn't earn that position though, it was handed to me by my Dad"

"You told me once that it doesn't matter how you get a job, it's what you do with it. You need to remember that you actually did a good job, you kept the magazine afloat when Connor took all the money, you managed to score major advertisement contracts and work along side Wilhemina. Besides, being a straight guy in a fashion magazine isn't easy, but you actually got taken seriously."

"You really had a lot of faith in me didn't you?" he tilted his head as he looked between her and the road ahead. He was turning off an exit to a service station due to the tank already only half full.

"Would I have been a good assistant if I hadn't?" she asked knowing the answer already. Daniel just smiled at how much encouragement Betty had given him. Not once had she doubted him or his capabilities.

"I just need to stop for some gas" he said as he pulled up alongside a petrol pump at the gas station

"I want a drink so I'll go and pay" Betty took off her seat belt as Daniel opened the door and stepped out onto the tarmac, hearing the harsh sound of the motorway next to him.

"I'm not letting you pay for gas, Betty" he said as he stood looking inside the car with his hand on the drivers door

"You really need to understand that I can actually afford things now, I'm not poor you know. `Just let me pay for the gas" she took her purse out of her bag and opened her door, stepping out to feel the warmth of the July sun hitting her legs.

"Are you sure?" he asked as she slammed the door shut and wandered round to meet him unscrewing the cap of the petrol tank.

"I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't" she leant against the side of the car as she folded her arms, her purse peeking out from underneath them. Daniel began filling the tank with diesel as Betty stood and watched him. She had noticed how she had noticed another thing that had attracted her to Daniel. She had watched as the muscles in his arms pulled and flexed as he drove and how strong his hands looked when he gripped the steering wheel. How his muscles became taught as he changed gears and how her skin seemed to freeze when he touched her thigh. She loved the way his eyes would focus on the road too, how they turned deeper almost bluer as he concentrated.

"What?" he asked, smirking slightly as he furrowed his brow in that unbelievably sexy way.

"I didn't say anything" she replied, somewhat confused

.

"You were looking at me funny"

"Sorry I didn't realise that I wasn't allowed to look at you now" she joked as he looked at the metre to see the number of litres that had filled the tank so far.

"I'm kidding, sweetie" he laughed as she sat up from the car and slid her hand round Daniel's waist and leant her head on his firm chest; taking in his warmth.

"What's this for?" he asked as he rubbed her back while still filling the tank with diesel.

"I'm just tired that's all" she said as he kissed her forehead

"Watch out" he said as he pulled the pump from the tank and screwed the cap back on. Betty drew her arm away from around Daniel and stood properly.

"I won't be long" she said as she began to walk over the shop at the end of the gas station to pay for the diesel.

"Oh and Daniel?" she stopped and turned around just as Daniel had opened the door to the car.

"Yeah?"

"I happen to think that older guys are hot, so I don't really think you've got anything to worry about"

"I'll keep that in mind" she smiled and turned around as Daniel stood in the open door of the car watching as Betty looked back and shrugged, smiling at him before he slid in the car.

He knew already that Miss Suarez would definitely be the death of him.


	4. Chapter 4

Part Four

Slight change of plan guys, no real difference to the story apart from the location of the conference has changed. I originally planned for it to be on an estate in Yorkshire in the North of England. But after researching I found a hotel in Hampshire called Limewood which suited what I imagined more, so the time scale for their journey has been lessened slightly. Note a change of five to three hour long journey in Part 2. You can google Limewood and it should come up to see what it looks like.

Please review and favourite so I know what you think! xx

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Daniel watched as her skirt flowed with her movements, the way it swayed as she walked and how gorgeous her legs were when they were bare of any clothes.

A smirk was still present on his lips as he recalled the way she looked at him when she walked away from the car. She was most definitely teasing him. She would swap between initiating intimate moments between her and Daniel, but out of nowhere she would drop comments or touch him differently and he was finding it hard to keep up. Everything was so unexpected. The spontaneity of her arms wrapping around his torso made it impossible to keep his stomach from twisting and his heart from lurching. The warmth from her body and how her fingers delicately ran up and down his spine made his breath quicken and hitch in his throat. And yet these simple gestures appeared to be subconscious, like she wasn't deliberately or intentionally touching Daniel like that; in short it had become instinct.

As Daniel sat in the car waiting for Betty return, the woman in question was taking a can of Diet Coke from a cooler inside the shop as well as a bottle of Evian. She knew that his eyes had been on her body as she walked away from him. But she was undecided on whether it made her nervous for the right reasons or the wrong ones. For a second she had thought that she had liked the way he looked at her, like he was _really_ looking at her and noticing the things that she did. But Betty had also had to think about how both her and Daniel had changed their actions towards one another. Throughout their five years of friendship not once had they indulged in such erotic or suggestive conversation. Betty had simply accepted that Daniel would always be associated with sex because of his past and for a while he had forgotten about his Harvard days and focussed on a real relationship. Somehow, however, the way that they had been teasing each other didn't feel as scandalous or as cheap as the ways he used to talk about women. She didn't feel like she was just part of a number, or an ever growing tally of one night stands or just one more girl that would be loved and lost in one night. Somehow the closeness of their relationship made it easier for them to taunt each other. The understanding that they had for one another made it so simple. The things they joked about were personal and the teasing words weren't just plucked out of thin air, they were educated and based on the fact that Betty and Daniel knew each other inside and out.

And as she paid for the gas, she found herself pulling her eyes away from looking out the window at Daniel. She was telling herself not to make what she felt obvious in fear that Daniel was simply _just _teasing her and had no actual intentions behind his comments. The cash attendant handed her the receipt and she slipped her credit card back inside her purse before she made her way out into the warm July air with the Evian bottle and can of Diet Coke clasped over her chest and her impulse bought kinder bueno clutched between her teeth. She kept her gaze away from Daniel's eyes as he watched her walk over to the car. He tried not to gaze too thirstily at her bronzed legs and attempted to shake the idea of whatever that was clasped between her teeth looked indeed extremely sexy, out of his head. She opened the car door with a _click_ and dropped the bottle and can onto the seat before attempting to climb into the car.

With her lack of height and the choice of clothing, this wasn't an easy task.

"I swear to god if you look up my skirt, you're a dead man Meade" she scolded

"I didn't do anything!" he replied defensively, trying not to smirk at Betty who had managed to juggle her Diet Coke and Evian as well as the chocolate gripped between her teeth as she got in the car.

"Don't act all innocent, I know what you're really like…" she pointed a finger at him before handing him the Evian to which he rolled his eyes and begrudgingly accepted.

"You know me too well…" he unscrewed the cap of the bottle and took a sip as he heard the _crack _of Betty's Diet Coke being opened.

"Oh honey, that's why you love me. I know what you're thinking before you've even thought it" she replied slightly sultrily, playing on that fact that she knew Daniel better than he knew himself. She took a sip of the freezing liquid, the bubbles piercing the back of throat making it sting.

"Really? Your mind must be _filled_ with dirty little scenarios of you on my desk then" he cocked his head slightly, content with the teasing comments he was producing.

"Nuh-uh, just scenarios of you failing to give me what I want. But hey a guy can always dream" she looked at him waiting for a comeback which he hadn't thought of yet. He just laughed a single laugh and rubbed his eyes in self-frustration. She was _always_ one step ahead. Always ready with a witty comment or answer. She was just _too_ clever and no matter how hard Daniel tried to outwit her, it never ever worked. And plus, her new methods of seduction and mental torture meant that Daniel gave in to her twice as fast as he normally would.

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" he said as he turned the key in the ignition and started the car. It was only as he started to drive out of the service station that she replied

"Thanks, it's good to know" she said looking out the window as Daniel joined the motorway again and moved into the outside lane. She had to quickly distract herself from Daniel's arms again and started toying with her fingernails, observing the navy shellac manicure which was painted so neatly on her nails.

"Will you hold this for me?" Daniel asked a few seconds into the journey as he looked down at the bottle which sat in his lap, in the most convenient place for Betty to put her hands.

"Sure" she said without thinking, but quickly cottoned on to what Daniel was doing and reached over to take the bottle from his crotch. She purposefully grazed her hand over the material of his jeans and put the bottle between her knees, knowing that he was stealing glances from her but she wasn't about to let him win.

As soon as she felt his eyes on her, she gripped the bottle with her whole hand and smoothed it down over the shape of the bottle. She would move it back up and do it slower, grazing her thumb over the cap as she grasped the cylindrical shape with her palm feeling the grooves indented in the plastic. As soon as he noticed what she was doing he would glance between the road and her lap where the bottle rested in her hand. His grip on the steering wheel tightened and so did the material of his jeans. And as she carried on tormenting him with the simplest of actions, his head was filled only by thoughts about what he could do to her if she let him. Every scenario was completely dirty and it only made the situation that he was in considerably worse. He tried to shake these thoughts out of his head but they kept on accumulating, filling his head and threatening to overflow. But he got to a point, where the only thing that he could concentrate on doing was ripping Betty's underwear off and the only sensation that he felt was the fact that his boxers were tightening at a rate of knots. This point was at which he couldn't take her teasing any more.

"Jesus Christ B, are you planning on doing that for the next three hours? You're driving me fucking crazy" he nearly shouted, exhaling as if to get rid of everything that had built up inside of his head. His brow furrowed and his body was desperate to relieve the aching and throbbing that had collected in a matter of minutes.

"Sorry?" she asked trying not to laugh, pressing her lips together to prevent herself from smirking.

"You trying to get me all riled up with your teasing, I feel like my boxers are about to tear open thanks to you and that fucking water bottle"

It was then that Betty's attempts to stifle her laughter failed miserably and she tried to hide by taking a sip of her drink but that only made it worse. Now her face felt like it was on fire mostly due to embarrassment for Daniel and due to the fact that she had been trying not to laugh for the last fifteen minutes.

"It's not fucking funny!" he was trying not to laugh himself as Betty was doubled over on her seat, her hands covering her face as she laughed so hard that she was barely making a sound. He poked her ribs in annoyance and she flinched, sitting up as she wiped away the tears of laughter that had run down her face.

"I'm sorry but it _is!_" she replied as she tried to stop laughing. Daniel was literally aching to get rid of the tightness that had appeared in his crotch, but after seeing her laughing so hard he was also trying not to laugh with her.

"How the hell am I supposed to get rid of it?" he asked as Betty began laughing again and he winced in discomfort. But he stopped and turned to Betty with a smirk on his face trying to make her think that he wanted her.

"Well I'm not doing it for you!" she replied, attempting to look horrified at his non-verbal proposition.

"You got me into this mess so you have to get me out of it!"

"No way!" she said, shaking her head at him.

"Seriously, I ask you for one thing and you won't give it to me? You're such a good best friend, B!" he said sarcastically, his eyes narrowing as he tried to ignore all of his natural instincts.

"Do you want me to close my eyes while you sort yourself out?" she joked, pursing her lips together as she desperately tried not to laugh.

"I'm not joking, B! You don't understand how annoying this is. You're a girl you don't have this problem"

"I'm quite aware of the whole male and female anatomy Daniel. It'll be fine if you just leave it alone, it'll go away don't worry"

"That's not the point! How would you like it if I got you all hot and bothered then didn't do anything about it?"

"I'm sorry but this is too hilarious for me to care about that right now"

"I'm glad that _you're _finding this funny" he almost groaned, trying to ignore every feeling in his body in that moment.

"I'm sorry, honestly Daniel I am" she eventually stopped laughing and tried to think of anything other than Daniel talking about getting her 'all hot and bothered'. The realisation that she had turned him on only made her reflexes kick in and soon enough there was a dull throbbing between her legs. But if she had any chance of beating Daniel at his own game, she had to ignore any natural instinct or feeling that her body have her. So as the aching subsided, she knew that any small joke would send him over the edge again.

"Would you like me to kiss it better?" she joked earning a loud groan from Daniel and another giggle from Betty.

They sat without conversation for the next hour and forty-five minutes. Daniel would glance at the Sat-Nav as he exited the A3 motorway and opted for smaller, winding roads as the headed into the depths of the English country. Betty had swiftly turned on the radio and had turned the volume down so it hummed in the background as she sent various emails from her phone and checked her twitter feed. After finding that she had nothing more to occupy her, Betty decided to break the silence and try to be civil.

"Are you okay now?" she asked timidly, looking over to see him looking back.

"Yeah I'm fine" he replied turning his attention to the road again.

"I'm sorry" she said squinting, hoping that his reaction wouldn't be too harsh.

"I know" he said placing his hand on her thigh again. She placed her hand over Daniel's as his thumb delicately grazed her skin.

"Do you forgive me?" she asked watching as he focussed on the road and not on her.

"Well I wasn't exactly mad at you, B. I thought that was obvious by the situation that I was in"

They neared a junction and Daniel replied as he looked to his right and then his left before pulling out onto the road.

"Oh, yeah I guess" she said turning Daniel's hand slightly so she could slip hers inside, their fingers intertwining and locking.

"Will you check to see if I've still got the hotel's confirmation email on my phone?" he asked as he fished his iPhone out of his jeans pocket, taking his hand away from Betty's and slightly raising his hips so that he could reach inside his pocket.

"Yeah sure" she said taking his phone from his hand. She typed in his password and logged into his email account, scrolling down to see an email from the hotel. After selecting the email she read through the details.

"Yeah it's all here. Five night stay, bed and breakfast, in a Forest Lodge for two people" she said, slowing as she lingered over the fact that they were staying in one room and secretly eager to sleep in Daniel's strong arms. She was glad that he had returned to the stockier, muscly stature that he bore soon after Molly had passed away. He seemed more masculine, more mature almost.

"Don't worry there's two beds" he said presuming that she'd worry over the detail of there only being one suite listed on the email.

"Oh. It doesn't really bother me that much" she said scrunching her nose and shaking her head.

"Really? I just presumed that you'd want your own bed" he furrowed his brow at her confession, quietly thrilled that she would want to be close with him.

"I've slept in the same bed as you before, Daniel. It's not exactly the most horrible situation to be in"

Daniel looked to his side and saw Betty smiling apprehensively; somewhat embarrassingly. As soon as he caught her eye he smirked not in the cocky, confident way that made her stomach tighten but in a way that was tender and understanding. But as Betty head began to spin as she felt his eyes on her body, he reached over once again but didn't brush his fingers over her thigh. Instead he just put his hand in hers and squeezed it. Somehow saying that he felt the same way, even though his thoughts about his feelings being reciprocated by hers hadn't been confirmed.

Another hour later and a few steep banks and tight corners to drive through, Betty and Daniel reached the drive way to Limewood in Hampshire on the South Coast of England. The gravel crunched under the wheels of the car and both Daniel and Betty's mouths were agape as they stared at their home for the next four days. If Betty thought that this trip would be hard, she was very,_ very _wrong. After being confined to the tightly compacted city that is London, the large estate was like a breath of fresh air. And as Betty gazed out of her window, Daniel watched her in awe and forgot about all of the teasing and tormenting from Betty and himself, and instead concentrated on the racing of his heart and the spinning of his head.

The thought of spending four days alone with Betty was the only thing that seemed to make him happy in that moment, he only hoped that she would let him get close enough to her to make her realise what his intentions _truly _were.

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**Thank you so much to anyone that reviewed! Means so much to me to hear your comments 3 xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for such a long delay between the last update and this one! I've had some important exams and essays to write and submit. Keep on leaving me reviews as normal so I know you guys are satisfied! Love you all xxx**

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An hour later and Betty and Daniel had checked into the hotel, their bags were settled at the end of each of their beds and Daniel was leant against the railing of the balcony; his arms folded as his eyes travelling the vast distance that the estate covered. The warm July breeze had acquired a cool edge and every so often the wind would nip at his uncovered forearms and he would inhale the scent of the lavender tainted, English air.

Meanwhile, his companion was placing her underwear back into her overnight bag after changing into a royal blue bikini and redressing in her clothes. She picked up her bag from its place on a chaise-long at the end of her bed and placed it inside the closet that sat adjacent to her en-suite. The way their room was laid out meant that Betty and Daniel's beds were at opposite ends of the room with an en-suite each and two sets of sliding doors at each end of the living room which closed to form two bedrooms.

She turned away from the closet and wandered out of her bedroom but stopped short as she noticed Daniel silently waiting on the balcony. She smiled slightly, biting her lip as she took a deep breath and made her way outside to join him

"Are you ready?" she asked as reached the railing and leant her back against it, her sides grazing Daniel's folded arms; a burning sensation swiftly arising to his skin.

"For what?" he asked as he stood up properly. Betty pushed herself up so that she was closer to Daniel so he placed his hand on the small of her back as he listened to her speak.

"You said you wanted to go check out the pool, so we're checking out the pool" she said as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and folded her arms.

"Are you being serious? I didn't think you'd actually agree to this" he said as a smirk began to arise from his lips.

"It's my way of paying you back, so yeah I _am _agreeing to this" she said

"Take it or leave it" she said smirking and raising her eyebrows as she moved around Daniel and began to wander back inside the room.

"You already know what my answer is" he called as he made his way back inside winking at her as she went into her bedroom to grab her phone and room key.

"Well hurry up then!" she called from inside the closet and Daniel shook his head at her impatience before taking his swimming shorts out of his overnight bag and making his way into his en-suite.

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As Betty held a towel over her chest with her locker key jingling in her hand, she wandered out to find Daniel already in the pool with his arms folded and resting on the side of the pool, his legs slowly making circles in the water beneath him.

As soon as he saw her, his head jolted up and she left her locker key and towel on a near by sun lounger with what appeared to be Daniel's identical set of belongings.

Betty turned her body intentionally so that Daniel saw her appearance and his mouth fell open in shock as she began to tie her hair up in a knot. He drank in her appearance like he was seeing a woman half naked for the first time. His eyes searching the length of her body as his heart hammered against his chest. Her bikini was not as dark as navy blue but not quite as light as cerulean and it seemed to push her cleavage in all the right places. Her waist curved into her hips in just the right place and her stomach was slightly toned as it reached below her navel. She turned around once again as she took off her earrings and laid them on top of her towel, bending down slightly to display her tightly formed ass in those blue bikini bottoms. Daniel's breath hitched in his throat and his breathing became heavier as he observed Betty in the most beautiful form he had ever seen her. But it was as she turned around that she was met with Daniel's toned, water speckled torso and intensely gleaming eyes boring into her own.

"You look amazing" he almost whispered, glancing to the ground then back up again to see Betty smiling as she bit her lip.

"Did I keep my end of the deal?" she asked as she pushed an imaginary piece of hair behind her ear and folded her arms subconsciously over her breasts; feeling completely intimidated by Daniel in that moment.

"Are you kidding? I'll do favours for you every day if it means you'll wear that" he replied as he motioned up and down her body with his eyes. She simply rolled hers and giggled as she noticed his stunned expression lingered on his face.

"Come on then" she said as she pulled Daniel's arm round as she walked towards the side of the pool. He swiftly pulled himself over the side, landing on his feet without as much as a splash surfacing from the water. She sat down on the edge of the pool, plunging her legs and feet into the water as she attempted to stop her breasts from leaving her bikini top and keep her hair dry. But as soon as she had started trying, she felt Daniel's hands on her waist as he held her weight and lowered her into the water; the cool liquid and the feeling of his touch on her bare skin making her gasp silently.

His hands left her skin and she smiled downwards as he turned away from her and lowered his body further underneath the water so that his shoulders were almost covered. She pushed off the side and began to swim the length of the pool, her hands and legs making circles underneath the balmy liquid. But Daniel waited a few seconds before starting to swim himself. Before too long, he was in touching distance with Betty's smooth, caramel skin and he caught one of her ankles and pulled her backwards through the water.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she asked through a slight laugh as he caught her waist with his hands once again and she stood on the tips of her toes.

"You were going too fast" he smirked at her and she rolled her eyes

"Maybe you weren't going fast enough" she said with raised eyebrows and a smile threatening to surface on her lips.

Daniel laughed and turned a light shade of pink and he looked up to find Betty biting her bottom lip again.

"Oh my, who would've thought I would be the one to make Daniel Meade blush?" she giggled and his head snapped up as he opened his mouth in shock and tried not to laugh. She began to swim away as he splashed her but he missed and he pushed off the ground and quickly caught up with her. But she made it to the edge of the pool and pulled herself out, giggling as she feared Daniel catching her. Daniel pulled himself out seconds after and raced up behind her. He caught her by her waist and pulled her up in his arms. His forearm was cradling her by the backs of her knees and his other arm was clasped firmly round her waist, his toned chest pressed against her back. She was practically squealing and Daniel had to control his own laughter as he carried her over to the edge of the pool.

"No no please Daniel, if you get my hair wet I swear to God I'll" she giggled and gasped for air before Daniel interrupted her and spoke dangerously close to her ear in the low, husky voice that made her stomach tighten with nerves.

"You'll what? There's not really much you can do when I've got you like this!"

"I'll do anything! Please just don't drop me!" she begged through a throaty chuckle as she let her head drop backwards so that her eyes were level with Daniel's.

"Say sorry!" he demanded over a laugh as his hand began to tickle and grab at her waist. She writhed both in pleasure and in fright as he lowered his mouth to the smooth, buttery skin of her shoulder and lightly bit her through his own chuckles. But she stopped writhing and squirming, instead she breathed in deeply as pleasured seeped through her pores from the area where Daniel was biting her. He prised his teeth from her skin and his eyes locked with her darkened eyes. Daniel's arms dropped from underneath her knees and her feet hit the tiles of the floor but he kept their bodies touching as he stood behind Betty.

"Sorry" she whispered almost inaudibly and Daniel moved his lips across the bare skin of her shoulder and up behind her ear making her shudder. His hand was resting on her waist and he brushed it across her stomach making her head turn to meet his own. She could sense his aftershave on his naked body and his hardened chest was pushed as firm as possible against her back.

"You're forgiven" he whispered back in her ear, nuzzling into her neck slightly as he felt her breathing deepen. But Betty began to move forward slowly, making Daniel's hands drop from her body and his head move from her neck.

She turned round to meet his gaze and smiled cheekily as she pursed her lips together, her eyes gleaming with mischief. It was then that she started to move quickly away from Daniel and before he knew it she was giggling again as she ran away from him to the other end of the pool. He picked up on her plan and raced forward, spinning her round before launching her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist as insurance for the plunge into the pool she knew was immanent.

She giggled in pleasure as she felt Daniel's skin pressed against her own again.

"Not this time Suarez" he said as he launched their entwined bodies into the tepid water. The water wasn't deep enough for their heads to submerge underneath but both their hair was damp and Betty's make up had run from her eyes. But as they recovered from the jump into the water, Betty realised that when she had felt Daniel's had underneath the band of her bikini top on her back, he had broken the clasp and ultimately left her standing topless with her arm covering her breasts as Daniel gazed at her in awe.

"You son of a bitch, Meade!" she shouted through yet another laugh as she used her free hand to slap his arm. He chuckled slightly but tried to supress another laugh as he caught the blue bikini top which was floating near the edge of the pool.

"Come here" he said sincerely as he move towards her, her arms still firmly covering her breasts which sat just underneath the water of the deserted pool.

"I'm not falling for that one" she said in response, rolling her eyes and looking downwards in embarrassment.

"No I'm serious come here, I'll help you" he said and she looked up from her gaze on the water and moved slowly towards Daniel. He found her waist for the last time and picked her up so that her legs were wrapped around his hips. Her free hand clung to his arm and he held onto her as tightly as he possibly could with her bikini top in his hand.

"Did you see?" she asked timidly as she failed to look into his eyes.

He nodded slowly and swallowed hard before adding "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" he brushed a tendril of damp hair behind her ear and she struggled to meet his gaze. So he lifted his hand underneath her chin and pushed her chin up gently

"but I'll forget if you want me to" he said as he bore into Betty's chocolate eyes. He kissed her forehead tenderly before she let her head fall within the space between his neck and shoulder. They stayed there for a while before she lifted her head and kissed Daniel's cheek.

She reached behind her back with one arm covering her exposed breasts and took her bikini top from Daniel's hand. She lifted her hand underneath Daniel's chin and reciprocated his actions. She pushed his chin so their eye contact was level. His gaze was intense as she let her arm fall away from her breasts and she carefully pulled her bikini top back on. Daniel's breathing was heavy as she replaced her hands onto his biceps and moved closer into his body; their skin touching both underneath and above the water. He shifted his arms further around her waist and she tightened her legs around his hips momentarily. Shaking himself out of the daze they were currently standing in Daniel cleared his throat and felt how cold Betty's skin had become.

"We should…uh…go. It's getting late and you're cold" he said as she moved her hand up his arm and around his neck; feeling the downy hair at the nape of his neck.

"Mmkay" she said quietly as she kept hold of the intense and intimate eye contact they were sharing. But they didn't move for another few minutes and Betty dropped her head onto Daniel's shoulder; inhaling his scent as he nuzzled into her neck in complete bliss and contentment.


	6. Chapter 6

I hate to be a pain but it would mean a lot to me if you checked out what I imagine Betty to be wearing when she goes to dinner in the hotel so if you look at the set called 'Mini in the City' at . when the second line break occurs! Thanks guys! xx

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"Betty?" Daniel called from outside her en-suite door, his voice raising slightly as he finished saying her name.

"Yeah?" she answered as she turned round from her position in the roll-top bath so she could hear Daniel more clearly.

"Do you mind if I grab a shower while you're in the bath? My bathroom doesn't have a shower" he replied as he waited outside the door, hearing the occasional movement of water from within the bath tub.

"Sure, I'm nearly done anyway" she said as she reached over to the bathroom door and unlocked it, covering her breasts with her arm as she moved slightly out of the water.

"Thanks gorgeous" he called again as he wandered through to his bedroom and picked up a brown leather toiletry bag and a pair of boxers. In the bathroom, Betty submerged herself further under the water and tied her damp, washed hair into a knot. The size of the roll top bath in comparison with the size of her body meant that Daniel wouldn't be able to see her in her naked form, but the thought of him seeing her completely bare of any clothes scared her a little. One of her tanned legs was bent upwards out of the water and her shoulders weren't quite covered by the rose scented, bubble-coated liquid. The sight of her damp caramel skin made Daniel's stomach lurch as he made his way into the bathroom and it took all of his strength not to climb into the tub with her.

"What time do we have to be down for dinner?" Daniel asked as he placed his toiletry bag down next to the sink and sat on the edge of the bath. He dipped his hand in the water and raised it out again, leaving pink tainted bubbles on his fingers.

"Half seven I think" she replied and scrunched her nose slightly as Daniel placed his finger on it and left a trail of bubbles in it's track.

"Okay" he said as he gazed at her, a barely recognisable smile lingering on his lips as he thought about how lovely she looked.

"Are you going to sit there all day watching me when I'm naked or are you going to go shower?" she smirked and he laughed before standing up from his position on the side of the bath

"I was enjoying myself there, B" he smirked and she rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm sure you were but we have forty-five minutes before dinner and you haven't even showered yet" she replied with a smile and a finger pointed in his direction.

"Fine, I'll go in now" he replied with a scoff and pulled the grey, button down t-shirt he'd been wearing over his head and allowed it to fall onto the tiles of the bathroom floor. It was as Daniel pulled a bar of Hermés fragranced soap out of his toiletry bag that Betty glanced at his tall muscular structure. His back was perfectly toned, his shoulders broad and slightly tanned. His arms were strong and defined and every time he held her she felt like she should have done in the arms of Henry, Gio and Matt…protected.

"No peeking" he said with a wink and in return Betty pulled down the eye mask from the top of her head and closed her eyes beneath it.

"I wouldn't dare" she sighed and slid further under the water before she had to get out and start getting ready.

Daniel watched her for a millisecond, just taking in her beauty as she lifted one of her legs and pulled it up so it was bent slightly. He turned away and switched on the shower, letting it steam up the bathroom mirror before he let his thin pyjama bottoms fall from his hips and stepped underneath the scolding water. After he entered the shower, Betty lifted her eye mask off her eyes and noticed Daniel's athletic shadow from behind the frosted glass wall which separated the bath from the wet room that contained the shower.

The way he'd been looking at her for the past day or two made her feel isolated in his presence. Like he was only thinking about _her _and the thought of Daniel wondering things about her or thinking about her in a different way frightened Betty to the point where she almost wanted to run and hide. But in another sense, Betty had found that when Daniel was with her, she was completely happy. Now it was just a case of trying to not let fear get in the way of what she truly wanted with Daniel.

The sound of water thrashing against the tiles of the shower was all that could be heard in the bathroom as Betty stood up in the bath and grabbed a towel from a nearby warming rail. The towel only just reached the middle of her thighs and it was folded in her cleavage as she wrapped it around her damp and shivering body. Grabbing her toiletry bag from its position next to the bath, she set out her moisturizer and body lotion next the sink and took off the eye mask from the top of her head.

Drying the damp, mocha skin of her legs, Betty applied cocoa butter body lotion to the smooth surface of them as she leant her foot against the side of the bath. It was then that she heard Daniel shut off the shower and cleared his throat as he grabbed a towel and positioned it round his waist. He smiled as she met his gaze and took in the sight of his softly defined torso dotted with water droplets and his damp hair ruffled a little. She stopped applying the lotion as he moved behind her, her back to the sink as his torso brushed against it. His hands graced her waist as he kissed her cheek and his towel covered crotch made contact with her barely covered ass. He moved past her towards the sink and took a razor, shaving gel and balm out of his toiletry bag.

"You smell good…" she said with a smirk as she leant her back against one of the his and hers sinks next to Daniel. He glanced to his side to look at her

"Thanks, so do you" he said as he glanced to his side again to see her pick up the bottle of body lotion and start applying it to her other leg.

"So that's what you smell of!" he said, a hint of realisation laced his voice as he picked up on the almost chocolate scented lotion.

"What do you mean?" she narrowed her eyes in confusion and stopped with a handful of lotion in her palm which was just about to be rubbed into the skin of her legs

"I've been trying to work out for _years _what makes you smell so good" he said as he turned to his side to face her.

"Um thanks I guess" she said through a laugh as she massaged the last of the lotion into her skin and snapped the cap of the bottle shut.

"I'm going to dry my hair" she laughed at him and looked into his eyes as she left the bathroom, a hint of adoration making her beam.

"Just so you know, I'll be buying you a crate of that stuff when we get back to London. You'll be bathing in it honey" he called as she wandered into the closet and picked up her hair brush and heated rollers from her overnight bag.

"And who knows, you might even have the pleasure of me putting it on you myself" she left the closet wearing a hot pink, silk robe which reached just about the knee and Daniel could see as he moved into the doorway of the bathroom that she wasn't wearing any underwear yet.

"I look forward to it" she said as she looked up to meet his gaze whilst pushing a strand of damp hair from her face and rummaged around in another toiletry bag on her bed.

After Daniel finished tidying up his stubble and dried himself off, he found Betty lying on her bed in the silk robe with her ankles crossed and raised off the bed, checking her emails on her phone. The robe had fallen downwards off her ass and had settled on the small of her back leaving a view of her black lace panties for Daniel to witness as he left the bathroom in his black, Calvin Klein boxers.

"You're hair's going to be bone dry by the time you finish checking all of them" Daniel mused as he sat down next to Betty on her bed, she smiled and rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm done now" she said as she pushed herself up off the bed with her hands which caused her robe to fall open slightly, displaying her full breasts in a bra which matched her panties. His stomach lurched and his breath hitched as she moved off the bed and ran her hand off Daniel's shoulder as she stood up. But he caught her hand and took them both in his making her stand in front of him as he sat on the edge of her bed. Their gaze locked and Daniel ran his thumb over the back of one of her hands.

"You're really beautiful, you know that" he said sincerely, looking into her eyes with a serious gaze. She dropped her eyes to look at their entwined hands and raised them back up; removing one of her hands from Daniels and moving it to the side of his face. She smoothed her thumb over his stubble covered jaw as she smiled in adoration at him, feeling how he leant into her hand slightly. He stood up at that point and laced his arms round her body as they embraced silently at the foot of Betty's bed. Daniel leaned back and kissed her forehead before taking himself and his toiletry bag to the other side of the room to get dressed, leaving Betty sitting cross legged in front of a mirror putting rollers in her hair.

* * *

Another half an hour passed and Daniel was applying after shave to his jaw and neck before he wandered through to Betty's room to find her trying to decide on an outfit to wear in the closet. Her rollers were still setting in her hair and her make up was done but she was still wearing the hot pink robe with her underwear underneath.

"I'm guessing you're not ready yet?" he smirked as he leant against the door frame wearing a pair of black jeans with a white shirt and charcoal jacket, his eyes bright as Betty turned to look at him. She laughed and mouthed a 'sorry' as she sifted through various outfits which hung on the rails of the closet

"Well don't you look handsome?" she said in terrible Texan accent. Daniel laughed and ran a hand through his hair as Betty took a skirt off a hanger and picked up a pair of shoes from the floor. Starting to make her way out of the closet Daniel followed behind her as she pulled on the skirt underneath the robe before carrying on with the conversation

"Why don't you go down to the bar and I'll meet you there? I'll only be ten more minutes" she said as she pulled a roller out of her hair, leaving a bouncy wave at the side of her face. She pulled the rest out and began to rearrange the soft curls in the mirror; turning to the side as Daniel replied

"Sure, I'll see you soon" he said as he put his hand on her waist and kissed her cheek from behind, smiling at her through the reflection of the mirror, Betty's hands toying with her hair as he did so. He turned to leave and winked affectionately at Betty as she smiled and slid her robe off her shoulders. The door shut with a _click_ and Betty pulled on the nude pink top which lay on top of the bed before stepping into her shoes and spraying her wrists and neck with the perfume Daniel had bought her. She loved to feel Daniel close to her and the feeling of wearing something or using something that he'd bought her or said that he'd liked, allowed her to get that one step closer to him when he wasn't around.

She pushed her cell phone and room keys into a clutch and shut off the lights in her bedroom, leaving it dimly lit by a lamp on the bedside table. As she prepared to leave she picked up the necklace which sat on a coffee table in the living room and attached it around her neck before opening the door to the suite and leaving.

As she made her way downstairs, taking the three flights of stairs in heels just so that she could prepare herself for whatever Adam would throw her way, Betty breathed deeply and her heart began to thump against her chest as she feared being in the same room as the man that made her skin crawl. She reached the hotel bar and stood in the doorway as she felt Adams eyes on her body but ignored them as she saw Daniel staring at her like the way he did in the pool just hours earlier. His hand was clasped round a tumbler of scotch and she smiled as she focussed only on him and the way he was making her feel at that moment in time.

Adam on the other hand, watched as Betty sauntered across the length of the bar until she reached the man that she had arrived with. Her heels clicked and her hair bounced as she glowed with pride at who she had brought as her plus one.

"Hi" she said a little breathlessly as she reached Daniel as he was leant against the bar in between two bar stools. In a surge of exhilaration and anger at the way Adam was looking at her, Daniel wound his arm around her waist and brushed her jaw with his fingers before slowly and gently covering her bottom lip with his own. After recovering from the surprise of the embrace Betty's hand landed on his collar bone and the other reached round to feel the hair at the nape of his neck as she felt every sense in her body heighten and her lips moved in sync with Daniel's.

He broke the kiss and he reciprocated her actions by answering her with a breathless and quiet "Hi" she smiled and he kissed her quickly again before he whispered in her ear "you look amazing" with his hand on the small of her back. He moved away from her slightly and brushed her hair away from her face as she bit her lip.

"Thanks" she replied as she looked at the floor.

It was then that Adam locked eyes with Daniel and he took a sip of his scotch. He swallowed before moving his lips to her ear again and she inhaled the scent of his cologne which lingered on his skin. Breaking contact with Adam Daniel spoke,

"He hasn't taken his eyes off you since you walked in" he said and Betty moved her head so that their noses were touching and their eyes were focussed only on each other before barely whispering "I don't care". That was all Daniel needed for him to move only millimetres forwards to reconnect their lips for a final time. The kisses were short but intense and Betty felt like Daniel was pouring every emotion into her. He squeezed her waist and she licked her lips after he parted their bodies and asked "You wanna go for dinner now?"

"Mhmm, let's go" she said and he left his tumbler on the bar before taking Betty's hand in his and walking past Adam drinking hard vodka in an act of rage as they made their way out of the bar and down towards the restaurant.

* * *

DOUBLE UPDATE! Please leave reviews because I love hearing your responses and advice! Olivia xx


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7.

"Do you want wine or?.." Daniel asked as he flicked through the wine list, lifting his head to see Betty watching the door of the restaurant with flamed intent. Her posture looked painfully rigid, as if she were balancing books on her head, and Daniel looked on with a worried expression as to what he could do to relieve her fear. She had sat with a mind full of worry for the last twenty minutes since they'd entered the restaurant and was dreading any interaction or close contact with Adam. His stare was enough to make her feel two inches tall and completely alone in a room full of people, his touch enough to turn her stomach. Betty knew that Daniel was fiercely protective of her and would step in if anything happened between Adam and herself, but she still couldn't shake the feeling of wanting to dart out of the restaurant and hide under the vast amount of covers on her bed.

"Hmm? Sorry…" she shook her head and prised her eyes away from the set of large wooden doors as she met Daniels anxious glare. It was nearing 8pm and the restaurant was quiet with only a few couples dining together and single businessmen drinking alone at the bar. The restaurant was dimly lit with large studded leather armchairs positioned at every table and white tablecloths adorned with silver cutlery and clean glassware. Daniel had spent a good few minutes when they entered the restaurant admiring a wall that was covered in charcoal grey and navy blue checked fabric, much like one in his father's study at the Meade mansion. The room was dark but classically dressed and the bar was littered with various shaped spirit and liqueur bottles placed along the length of it's mirrored wall.

"Are you alright?" he asked. He set the wine list down on the table in front of him and leant forward in his seat with a furrowed brow. Her eyes darted up towards Daniel's and she ran a hand through her hair as she realised that Daniel had obviously picked up on her pensive mood.

"I will be once you order that wine. Alcohol seems to be the only cure I've found so far" she laughed and shook her head as she looked down into her lap; knowing that Daniel's eyes were still on her.

"As long as you don't follow in my mother's footsteps, I'll keep the alcohol flowing…don't worry about that" he smirked as she laughed at his comment about his mother and was secretly worried that if she didn't ration her wine intake, a visit to an AA group might be on the cards. She quickly pushed that to the back of her mind and settled on admiring how far Daniel's legs were spread out under the table. Her leg was crossed over the other and Daniel's feet lay either side of her own making it incredibly easy for her to touch him. The close contact had developed and increased recently between them and while they had once kept natural, friendly distance between them, Daniel and Betty seemed open to getting comfortable in each others embrace.

"Red or white?" he asked as he turned a page of the wine list and fell upon a group of French Sauvignon Blanc's, all over £300 a bottle. To keep her nerves at bay, Daniel figured a bottle or two and a night cap would do the trick with Betty and so he quickly moved away from the deeply expensive wines and settled on a page displaying a less extortionate list of Sauvignon's.

"Rosé?" she smirked as she replied and chose neither of Daniel's options.

"You know exactly how to be awkward don't you?" he laughed and turned back a couple of pages in the wine list and fell upon a selection of Cote de Provence rosé's, seeing the wine his parents used to bring home from vacations in Cannes.

"You don't even like red wine so I don't really know why you asked. Anyway, you always choose good wine so I'll leave it up to you, my resident sommelier" she smiled and bit her lip slightly as Daniel looked at her in _that _way again.

"No no…if you want rosé, you'll get rosé. I was just making sure, that's all" he winked and looked back at the wine list as the restaurant's sommelier returned to the table and Daniel ordered a bottle with a French name that Betty couldn't translate. She rolled her eyes as Daniel thanked the sommelier and looked back at Betty.

"Hey! What was that for?" he lightly moved his foot against Betty's ankle as he glared at her whilst trying not to smile at how perfectly her cami seemed to make her breasts look. If he knew that she wouldn't kick him under the table he would tell her how tremendous he thought her breasts were, but this was Betty and any flirting would end in a slap on the wrist and a disapproved yet embarrassed stare.

"You being all flirty and winky with me!" she said as she crossed her arms over her chest, subconsciously pushing her breasts upwards so that the lace of her bra was just visible over the seam of her top.

"Well you can't exactly talk…half an hour ago you had your tongue down my throat!" he said as he picked up his glass of water and brought it to his lips, watching as Betty pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Cat got your tongue?" he smirked as he placed his glass back down and rested his folded arms on the table.

Betty bit her lip and picked up her bag from the table and stood up.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I think I need to check my lipstick after I stuck my tongue down your throat" she quoted Daniel in the same tone and voice as he had used and raised her eyebrows as she walked past Daniel and touched his shoulder as she went. He scoffed and turned to watch her make her way across the restaurant, shaking his head at how provocative and confident she was.

After five minutes of sipping wine and people watching from afar, Daniel was joined by Betty at the table again just as Adam and his company entered the restaurant. For a second Betty tensed but then relaxed as she looked towards Daniel and took a sip of her now full wine glass.

"Is he here?" Daniel asked as he reached across the table and touched Betty's hand. She turned her palm over so that it faced upwards and Daniel could slip his hand into her own.

She nodded in response to his question and felt Daniel's fingers moving delicately up and down her own, making her shiver in pleasure.

Daniel looked her straight in the eyes to make her feel as comforted as possible and she smiled weakly, her eyes glimmering with hope. Betty's recent transformation had stretched to her abandoning wearing glasses on a day to day basis and starting to wear contact lenses. The simple change made a world of difference because for the first time in four years, Daniel had seen Betty properly. He was able to see everything she was feeling and every time he looked into her eyes, he felt like he was looking into a part of her soul.

"In a minute I want you to run your foot up my leg, okay?" Daniel said in a low and nearly inaudible voice as he leant further towards Betty.

"What? Why?!" she asked and Daniel just glared at her and held firmly onto her hand.

"Just do it!" he said and she widened her eyes as she heard the Maître's D taking Adam and his girlfriend to their table.

"Now!" Daniel whispered and due to a sudden reflex, Betty's stiletto was slowly grazing underneath Daniel's trouser leg and he raised his eyebrow suggestively just as Adam was seated two tables away from them. Daniel knew that Adam could see Betty's actions and took a sip of his wine in satisfaction both at the jealousy he was provoking and the undeniably sensual act Betty was currently performing. Her touch provided Daniel with more pleasure and nerves than he thought it would and he was trying unbelievably hard not to let the effect surface to his expression. Adam and the woman sat opposite him began to indulge in conversation with the Maître's D and Betty stopped pushing her foot further up Daniel's leg.

"I didn't tell you to stop…" Daniel stopped moving his wine glass to his lips and Betty giggled at him as she carried on touching him from underneath the table. Daniel could see out of the corner of his eye that Adam kept on glancing between their connection under the table and their entwined hands next to their wine glasses. Somehow, Betty had forgotten about Adam and was concentrating solely on Daniel and the goose bumps that had risen to the surface of her skin.

"Are you cold?" Daniel asked as he noticed her bare arms and began to shrug his jacket off.

"Oh…no?" Betty replied as she glanced at shoulders and grazed her hand up her arm. Her eyes seemed to grow darker as she made Daniel realise how much of an effect he had on her. He stopped taking off his jacket and she sighed as Daniel kissed her hand in reciprocation of what Betty had just implied.

They were soon broken from their conversation as Daniel's entrée was sat down in front of him.

"I don't understand why you never have an entrée. Its bizarre" Daniel said as he started eating and Betty leant forward on the table as she sipped on her wine.

"It's not bizarre at all. In our house we just eat everything at once, we don't have entrée's or anything like that. It's what I'm used to" she smiled as she saw Daniel see her point of view.

"Fair enough. I guess I've never had dinner at your house before so I can't judge. Do you want some?" he asked as he gestured with his cutlery towards his entrée and Betty swallowed her sip of wine.

"You've never had dinner at my house?! Wow. You really haven't lived Daniel. Dinner at the Suarez household is a real eye opener…" she finished and Daniel laughed as he imagined the conversation and goings on during dinner with Betty's family. It was enough to make him dizzy.

"We'll have to resolve that the next time we're in New York" she commented and Daniel smiled as he nodded his head and added "Sounds great".

"Hey, you never answered my question!" Daniel asked and Betty frowned as she remembered Daniel asking if she wanted some of his entrée.

"No, I'm good thanks" she shook her head as Daniel ate a mouthful and she ran a hand through her hair.

"Oh come on I feel bad for being the only one eating" he set his cutlery down on his plate and drank from his wine glass; gaining eye contact with Betty from over the rim of the glass.

"You're so pushy!" she giggled and shook her head as she saw Daniel pouting his bottom lip and giving her his best puppy dog eyes. He held his fork over the wine glasses in the middle of the table and offered her some of his entrée that he desperately wanted her to try.

"You're really going to feed me?" she raised her eyebrow and smirked as she glanced between Daniel and the fork.

"Problem?" he asked and tilted his head as he smiled mischievously.

Betty gave in and placed her lips over the fork and took what Daniel had offered her. He watched as she ate and licked her lips when she had swallowed, feeling increasingly worried about how tight his shirt collar was becoming. _Is she doing that on purpose or is it just my imagination?_

"Happy?" she asked

"Very."

* * *

By the time they had eaten their main courses and drained two bottles of wine of its contents, the night was nearing 10pm and the restaurant was still almost empty. Betty had left to put her phone on charge in their room so she could check an urgent email being sent to her. Daniel was sat with his arms folded and resting on the table in front of him while he thought back over the events of the past couple of hours. The car journey, the flirting, the situation in the pool and the kiss just hours earlier all combined to make a very confused and riled up Daniel. Was the flirting just a new, undeveloped side to their friendship or did it signal something else starting to bloom between them? Either way, he didn't want to stop whatever was happening between himself and Betty because one, it was too much fun and two, it brought him one step closer to being as close to Betty as he wanted to be.

He was drawn from his confusion filled daze by a presence at the table that wasn't Betty's.

"I thought I'd come and introduce myself while I got the chance" Daniel glanced upwards sharply in shock as he saw Adam standing at the edge of the table. Daniel stood as Adam carried on with his introduction

"I'm Adam Silk, I work with Betty" he extended his hand to which Daniel begrudgingly accepted

"Daniel…"

"Meade. I know. My father knows your family well"

"Oh right. I'm afraid that I can't return the favour. My father had quite a broad spectrum of contacts, I'm sure you'll understand"

"Of course, of course. So you're the man that's stolen Betty's heart then?" Adam smirked as Daniel sat down again and Adam leant against the empty table adjacent to them.

"Not quite. Betty and I go way back. Betty's the only one doing the stealing" he smiled as he saw Adam shift uncomfortably and grind his teeth

"It's strange, she never mentioned you before. In fact I had no idea she was even seeing anyone"

"Oh really? She must be keeping me as her dirty little secret then"

"I'm sure…" Adam looked wearily at Daniel as he swallowed a mouthful of wine

"Oh! Speak of the devil…" Adam said as he jumped to standing position again as he saw Betty returning to the table

Betty walked up behind Daniel and slid her hand down his shirt covered chest.

"Are my ears burning?" she asked with a smile as Daniel tilted his head sideways to gain eye contact with her. She dragged her nails upwards and began to slide her hand under the open collar of Daniel's shirt to feel the hot, buttery skin of his taught chest. A burning sensation flamed in the depths of Daniel's stomach and a heartbeat jumped as a stream of adrenaline passed through his veins. He put his hand on her wrist and smoothed his thumb over her skin before she pulled her hand away from underneath his shirt and stood to Daniel's side. He wove his arm round her waist and held onto her firmly as she stroked the nape of his neck delicately and softly with her fingers.

"Maybe" Daniel replied mischievously and Betty laughed a solitary giggle

"Only good things, I promise" Adam winked and Betty's throat hitched making her grip on Daniel's skin tighten. His eyes shot up in shock at the change in pressure on his skin and he pulled Betty closer to his side as she held onto his hand that sat on her waist.

"You wanna go for a night cap before bed baby?" Daniel asked Betty as he stood from his seat and placed his napkin down next to the burned out tea light.

"Sure" she smiled

"Fran and I might see you in the bar later then?" Adam said as he gestured to the blonde haired woman sat at their table, talking on her phone.

"We'll be there" Betty said and glanced upwards to Daniel for reassurance.

"See you later mate" Daniel nodded his head towards Adam as Betty smiled in his direction.

"Are we really going for a drink?" Betty whispered as they walked away from Adam and Daniel took hold of her hand.

"No, that was just a ploy to get you away from him" he replied without looking at her. She kept her gaze forward as he pulled her into his side and smoothed his hand up and down her bare arm.

"Since when did you become such an expert in high pressure situations?" Betty laughed and shook her head in disbelief at how effortless he seemed to tumble everything off his tongue.

They made their way out of the restaurant and Daniel stopped to tell the Maître's D to put their bill on their room account and signed the cheque.

"How do you think me and Alex got away with so much when we were kids?" he smiled down at her and she just laughed in response as they made their way up the flights of stairs at the end of the corridor. Somewhere in the journey, Betty had distanced herself from Daniel and they were no longer walking hand in hand or in each others embrace. The way Betty seemed to push him away whenever they got close, made Daniel doubt the thought he had for making something between them happen. He got a strong impression that either she was scared or simply not interested but the way they had kissed and the way she had looked at him the entire night made him think otherwise.

They reached the door of their suite and Daniel took the key from his trouser pocket. As soon as Betty was through the door, she slipped her heels off and wandered through to her bedroom to change into her pyjamas. Daniel stared for a moment at the doors to the room opposite to his as Betty's shadowed danced among the light that cascaded from the bathroom, bedside lamp and closet. He took a deep breath and wandered through to his own closet to fish out a pair of grey, pyjama bottoms to lounge in while he sifted through the mountain of emails bound to be filling his inbox.

Betty on the other hand had changed into a pair of thin, pyjama shorts and was searching in her overnight bag for a plain white cami, which seemed to have gotten lost in transit. Daniel sat at the bottom of his bed and glanced up from his phone to find Betty standing at the foot of her bed with her back to him as she pulled the top she had been wearing over her head to display the caramel skin of her back and the clasp of her bra. The urge to wander over to her and fit his hands into the curve of her waist before plunging his lips onto her neck and shoulder; basking in her scent and feeling her relax into his torso, was overwhelming. But he stayed still and silent as he watched her pull the white cami over her head and down her body. Not once had he been so mesmerised by such a simple action and maybe it was due to not having developed a friendship into a romantic relationship before but he felt so completely lost in her.

As she started to turn around he darted his eyes downwards to the screen of his phone and the open email to avoid making awkward eye contact and having to explain why he had watched her.

Oblivious to his staring, Betty took her toiletry bag from the bathroom before sitting cross-legged in the centre of the king sized bed and tying her hair into a knot on the top of her head. She laid out a bottle of cleanser and cotton wool pads in front of her before unscrewing the cap and proceeding to remove her make up which was beginning to sting her strained eyes. She had taken out her contact lenses and had settled for the pair of dark rimmed glasses she rarely wore due to Daniel telling her that she looked like a 'sexy secretary' in then. To which Betty thought was an odd comment to make considering she was his assistant for three years.

Daniel put his phone on his bedside table before shrugging off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt, leaving his torso bare. He tossed both items on the bed before taking his pyjama bottoms into the bathroom to change. His brogues made a deep _click_ against the tiles of the bathroom floor before he kicked them off along with his trousers and pulled on the thin material of the pyjama bottoms. He returned to find Betty sitting cross-legged, not on her bed but on his. Her face was bare of the make up she had been wearing and her hair was pulled effortlessly up into a knot but Daniel couldn't help but admire how lovely she looked.

"Hey, what you doing?" he asked as he pushed his nerves into the depths of his stomach and wandered out into his bedroom.

"Just checking what time I have to be in the conference room tomorrow" she turned off her phone and dropped it down on the bed before looking up at Daniel with a smile.

"Early start?" he asked as he picked up his jacket and slipped it onto the coat hanger which sat on the door handle of his closet.

"Its not bad actually. The meetings start at twelve and finish at four. I just feel a bit sorry for you, I mean what are you going to do all day?"

"I'm sure I'll find something. Mark needs me to ring a few contacts and follow up on the launch party details so I'll be kept on my toes" he called from the closet as he hung up his jacket. He re-emerged and leant against the door frame to a yawning Betty

"Are you sure?" she asked through another stifled yawn, Daniel laughed and she rolled her eyes at herself.

"Positive. Now got to bed and get some sleep. You'll be exhausted in the morning if you don't" he stood up from his position at the door frame and stopped at the foot of his bed. Betty slid off from the top of the covers and began to walk across the living room to her bedroom.

"Hey! Do I not get a goodnight kiss?" he teased, seeing Betty turn around and smirk, then turn back around again.

"In your dreams Meade" she called without turning around and moved to turn the bathroom and closet light off before she pulled back the covers and lay down under the cold covers of her bed. The mattress felt huge as she lay in the middle and tried to feel either side, but she couldn't. The amount of space around her was unnerving but she pushed the urge to climb into the other side of Daniel's bed aside and turned off the bedside lamp. Her room was dark and cold and made her feel unsettled so she sat up to see the lights from Daniel's room shut off apart from the bathroom light. She sighed and took off her glasses before forcing herself to sleep under the icy, vast sheets of her bed, secretly wanting to share them with Daniel.


	8. Chapter 8

A bit of a "filler chapter" here with much more of a romantic feel to it. Hope you enjoy and please leave reviews! xxx

* * *

It was three am on the Limewood Estate and for one of the two people staying in the hotel room, sleep had not yet engulfed them. The room was completely opaque now and Betty was unable to see her hand in front of her as she sat up in bed. She sighed and hugged her arms around her, rubbing her arms in an attempt to shield them from the icy breeze the air conditioning seemed to be blaring out. She sat for a minute, trying to hear for Daniel's movements in the bed across the room but all that could be heard was his heavy breathing and slight, husky snoaring. It was then that she looked around her and felt for her glasses on the bedside table next to her and put them on. Squinting through the darkness, she moved the sheets open on one side and slid off the mattress; feeling her feet hit the cold, wooden floorboards. Her eyes had adjusted a little to the sheer, obscurity of the light in the room and she wandered into the living room, picking up her phone on the coffee table.

She was just able to make out the formation of the room now. The coffee table, the arm chair and the double doors of Daniel's bedroom left open were all just dark shadows in the room but they gave Betty a guide to where about she was. After standing scanning the walls for the air conditioning controls, she saw a square, digital panel next to the door of the suite. Stepping around the arm chair and pushing an imaginary piece of hair behind her ear out of pure confusion as to how to work the controls, Betty shone the light from her Blackberry onto the control panel to give her some light in the pitch black atmosphere. After a few minutes she thought she might have figured the controls out and so tapped lightly on the touch screen panel. But it was then that the room grew colder and the noise from the air conditioning grew marginally louder.

"Oh shit" she whispered as she pressed a button on her Blackberry so the light shone out from the screen again. She sighed and tried to undo the action she had just made on the control panel, but it was no use so she wandered back over to her bed.

"Betty?" Daniel asked huskily and quietly as he sat up in his bed, his body covered from the waist down by the sheets and his torso completely bare. Although the darkness in the room meant that she couldn't make out his facial features, Betty could see that a stream of light bounced off the skin of his chest, causing her to be able to make out his strong arms and taught chest.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you" she almost pleaded, apologising as she turned around and saw Daniel rubbing his eyes like a small child.

"What's wrong?" he asked through a stifled yawn and Betty moved to put her phone back on charge on the coffee table.

"It's freezing in here so I went to turn the air con off but I made it worse" she rubbed the tops of her arms as she shivered and curled her toes against the floorboards.

"Mmm come here" he said groggily, running a hand through his hair before yawning again.

"Why?"

"Just come here" he replied and Betty made her way through the living room and towards Daniel who was lying on the right side of the bed. She reached the bedside table and he slid his feet from underneath the covers so that he was sat on the edge of the bed, with the sheets still wrapped around his bottom half. He pulled his overnight bag from next to the nightstand and pulled one of his grey Harvard sweatshirts from the bottom. He looked back up to find Betty standing over him, toying with her fingernails. Slowly, he took her glasses off her face and laid them next to his phone on the bedside table. Pushing his hands inside the sweater, he pulled the material over her hair and down over her body as she pushed her arms through the holes. It was considerably bigger than her frame, but paired with her tiny shorts and her hair tied up, Daniel couldn't help but admire how lovely she looked.

"Better?" he asked as he rubbed the tops of her arms before feeling his way down to her hands which lay at least two inches inside the sleeve of his sweater.

"Much. Thank you" she whispered. Daniel swung their hands a little so they hit off each other like swings and he pulled Betty so that she stood in between his legs. The bed was higher than she had thought and so Daniel's head reached the space between her breasts and her collar bone as she placed her hands on his shoulders. Daniel wove his arms around her waist and pulled Betty into his torso as he rested his head against her chest. He felt the cold skin over her collar bone and moved his hand down to the back of one of her thighs. He held her tightly and she smiled softly as she brushed her fingers along the downy hair at the nape of his neck and leant her head against his. She could feel the heat radiating off his chest and through the sweater and he brushed his thumb over the curve of the back of her leg.

"God Betty, you _are _cold" she smiled in response and he pulled away from their embrace to look at her.

"Come on. Get in" he said as he cocked his head towards the other side of the bed.

"Are you sure?" she asked warily as she began to register the colour of Daniel's eyes through the darkness of the room.

"Of course I am, now get in" she smiled weakly at him as she tilted her head in admiration. She began to wander over to the other side of the bed and pulled back the sheets. As soon as her skin hit the covers, she could immediately feel the heat glowing from Daniel like a halo. The sheets were balmy on her bare legs and his pillows didn't feel as hard as hers had. She shivered into her new found warmth but unexpectedly found Daniel moving over to her side of the bed. He lay on his side as he pulled Betty's body into his own. They were facing each other and her knees were pulled into her chest as Daniel rubbed Betty's back in soft circles and she leant her head against his chest.

"Daniel, I swear to God you're like a furnace" she laughed as she felt him take hold of her hands and blow hot air into them.

"It's one of my talents I guess. Warm hands and warm skin" he smiled at her as she relaxed sighed into his touch.

"Jeeze, how'd you get so cold?" he laughed a little as he felt her feet, like little blocks of ice, touch his thighs.

"Sorry…" she said, feeling guilty for having woken Daniel up and having him warm her up like a child after playing in the snow.

"What are you talking about? You've got nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart" he kissed her forehead and she rested her head against his shoulder. She moved slightly, holding onto the top of Daniel's arm as she brushed her lips along the length of his shoulder. He was stroking his hand absentmindedly up and down her back before he slipped both of them under his sweater and underneath her white cami and made contact with her cold, goose bumped skin. She sighed and her throat made a quiet "mmm" sound as he continued moving his hands upwards across the small of her back and clasped her shoulder momentarily before dragging his fingers downwards over the side of her body. He knew that she wasn't wearing a bra anymore and his hand accidentally brushed the side contour of her breast; making her nuzzle softly into his neck. It was the most pleasure she had experienced from anyone's hands and Daniel's seemed to work magic as he glided them across her skin. She felt wrong for wanting him to search further with his hands and for her to be bare of her clothes but she had no idea that Daniel was thinking the exact same thing. He could feel Betty's eyelashes fluttering against his neck as he carried on making circles on her skin with his hand. They hadn't ever been this close to each other but for Daniel it was miraculously soothing and his touch had warmed Betty immediately.

"Daniel?" Betty asked, lifting her head off his shoulder to look at him.

"What is it?" he asked as she rested her head back down into his neck. She waited a while before asking again.

"Are you wearing anything?" she sounded slightly cautious as she remained a little scared to ask such a question

"I'm wearing boxers, why?" he replied and pulled his face back to look at her seeing her look up with a smile on her face.

"No reason" she rested her head against his shoulder and he smirked into her skin as he pressed his lips into her neck.

"Do you want proof or something?" he laughed again as he spoke "You're hand aren't that far away from my ass right now"

"Mmm go to sleep Daniel" she said through a yawn and Daniel laughed again before settling his head back down in the crook of Betty's neck. One of her hands softly gripped Daniel's arm and the other rested on his collar bone. Her head rested just below his shoulder on the firm muscle of his chest and one of her legs was raised and rested on his hip. Daniel's hands had slowed their actions underneath Betty's cami and rested still on the small of her back; his upper arms keeping her firmly pressed against his body. The position was natural as they faced each other and it was the most comfortable way Daniel had ever slept holding a woman in his arms. Betty wasn't heavy by any means which meant that Daniel didn't feel like he had a dead weight leaning against him but he felt like he was being kept safe and warm. They were both content and snug underneath the layers of sheets and Betty had never felt a greater urge than to prise her clothes from her body and sleep skin to skin with Daniel. What she failed to know was that Daniel's hands were dangerously close to removing her clothes for her but his conscience was keeping him from doing so.

During the night of peaceful and contented slumber for both Daniel and Betty, their position in the bed changed only once when Betty turned over and took his sweater off and slept with her back pressed against Daniel's chest with his head nuzzled deep in the crevice of her neck. The removal of his sweater allowed Daniel to pull Betty closer to him and his arms lay tightly folded around her waist underneath her breasts. Throughout the night, Daniel had snored quietly yet gruffly in Betty's ear and while most might find it irritating, she found it one of the most comforting things that she'd ever heard. Their legs were entwined, their bodies moulded into one another's and their skin touching in every way possible without the removal of yet more pieces of clothing. Daniel would drift in and out of sleep and would find himself listening as Betty would sigh and make "mmm" noises when he traced his lips over her skin and pull her body firmer against his own. She loved laying in his arms and felt herself smiling when Daniel smoothed his hands down her arms and when his lips lay firm against her neck.

They had both learned that despite the teasing and provocative words shared between them, the tender moments were just as appealing and just as needed. Sleeping in each others arms didn't need to follow sex or making love to one another…well, not yet anyway.


End file.
